SD and JQ: A lexical and semantic crossover region Semantic change: Conclusion

vegetables. However, TP, JR, DJ, TN and BL do grow ‘arrowhead’ and use an indigenous Sui word ȶʰiu³ to refer to it. By extension, these places often use ȶʰiu³ to refer to ‘spinach’ too. Similar cases can be found in such words as ‘taro’ ʔɣaːk⁷ or ȶe⁴ hui², ‘Chinese chives’ ŋam² or qə⁰ ȶu³ and ‘coriander’ ʔma¹ zui¹ or ʔma¹ laːŋ¹, for which apparently different varieties of similar vegetables have different Sui words. Rarely are both words used in the same location. ‘Chives’ is an exception - both the words ŋam² and qə⁰ ȶu³ are in use in some places. Our wordlist elicitation procedures were not rigorous enough to uncover all of these slight semantic differences, especially with words for plants and animals. Some locations have preserved an old Sui word for ‘log raft’, za² JQ, ZH and JL, probably because rafts are still in use in these locations. Other Sui areas used a compound paːi² mai⁴ or similar, literally meaning ‘row of tree trunks’. Similarly, the older Sui word for boat, lwa¹, appears to have dropped out of usage in some areas for example PD and JR, being replaced by a Chinese loan su ən² or ɕon² see Stanford 2011. Again, this could be due to a lapse of many centuries in using this particular mode of transport in these particular locations. Finally, a fascinating study can be made of the Sui words used to designate other minority groups who live in and around the Sui area exonyms. The word miu¹ or ʔmiu in Southern Sui is universally used to refer to the Miao people. In some locations e.g., SY and JQ, this word is also applied to the Yao. In other mostly Central and Western Sui areas, the Chinese loanword jaːu² or jaːu⁴ from 瑶族 ‘Yao nationality’ is used, either on its own or modifying the word miu¹. RL and SJ, both situated in close proximity to a Yao minority township, use an entirely different word to refer to the Yao, ka⁴ paːŋ⁵, which may be related to the specific branch of Yao who live in this area in contrast with the Yao ʔmiu¹ who live in and around SY. The Kam people are almost universally referred to as kam¹ in Sui, the same as the Kam’s own autonym, reflecting the close relationship of these two people groups. Fascinatingly, the Yang’an Sui whom we believe to have descended from a branch of Kam appear to have no indigenous word for the Kam. Instead, they use an old Chinese loanword toŋ⁶ it cannot be a recent loan due to the tone category, sometimes in conjunction with the word miu¹ ‘Miao’. They refer to themselves as the sui³ kam¹ ‘Kam-like Sui’ see chapter 3, section 3.3.1.

6.5.4 SD and JQ: A lexical and semantic crossover region

SD and JQ only 16 km apart as the crow flies or 25 km by road appear to belong to a lexical “crossover” region in which, due to high levels of contact between Central and Southern Sui speakers, more semantic distinctions are made for the items on our wordlist than other Sui dialects. For example, SD uses both the Central word lj ən⁶ and the Southern word faːn¹ for ‘sweet’, but in different senses. Faːn¹ is generally used when describing fruit; lj ən⁶ is generally used when describing liquor. Similarly, SD uses both kwaːk⁷ Central and tsai⁴ Southern for ‘hoe’. The former refers to a smaller implement used for hoeing the ground for planting; the latter is longer and thicker and is used for digging larger holes. SD uses both fa³ Central and n̥i³ Southern for ‘to consider’ in the sense of ‘to consider or mull over a problem’. JQ uses both kam³ Southern and ʔnam³ Central for ‘often’, vjau¹ Southern and sum³ Central for ‘just now’, tsap⁸ Southern and jən² Central for ‘every’. And there are sure to be many more examples which a more thorough lexical investigation would uncover.

6.5.5 Semantic change: Conclusion

We have only touched the surface of the vast array of fascinating semantic and lexical variation to be found in the Sui region. Most of the fine distinctions of which there are sure to be many in the meaning of the same word in different villages and regions are far too subtle for a survey of this type to uncover. It should never be assumed that the semantic range of any particular word in any two locations is the same. Nor should it be assumed that the grammatical function that any one word can perform in one location will always be the same in another. Overall, SD Sandong, Central dialect and JQ Jiuqian, Southern dialect appear to have a particularly wide range of vocabulary due to the fact that they lie on the border between the Central and Southern Sui dialect areas. Again, this gives weight to the argument for choosing the SD lect, which belongs to the Central dialect cluster and is historically closely related to the Western, Eastern and Pandong dialects, as a standard to represent the whole of Sui.

6.6 Conclusion